Projex has been working with two of the UK’s major property companies, Landsec and Hammerson, on separate projects to install major solar photovoltaic (PV) systems at two leading shopping developments.
A project involving the installation of 2,902 PV panels at the White Rose Shopping Centre, Leeds, for Landsec is the biggest solar PV system on a retail site in the UK.
The PV installation will generate 680,000 kWh of power a year – enough electricity to power over 200 UK homes for 12 months and supplying over a third of the daytime electricity used in the mall areas of the centre. IT was installed over a period of six weeks by EvoEnergy.
Projex is also advising on the £15m, 65,000 sq ft leisure extension at the centre, providing project management, cost consultancy and principal designer (CDMC) services. Six new restaurants have already opened and an 11-screen Cineworld Cinema with Imax technology will open later this year.
On a related note, the company has also recently overseen the installation of 4,000 m2 of PV panels on Elliott’s Field Shopping Park in Rugby as part of the Hammerson-owned development’s aim to become the first retail park in the world to achieve a BREEAM rating of outstanding.
Projex is the appointed project manager and employer’s agent for the new park, whose BREEAM rating will be announced when it officially opens before Christmas and will be measured on its embodied carbons as well as benchmarked against stringent Hammerson objectives. The scheme consists of a terrace of nine units designated for bulky goods as well as a coffee shop. The panels will supply free electricity to ten tenants.
Barry Graham, director at Projex, says: “We are extremely proud to be working alongside such innovative and ambitious property organisations. Sustainability is a subject which is very close to our hearts, having helped launch the multi award-winning first zero energy coffee shop in the UK for Costa in 2015 and having worked on other notable energy efficient projects in recent years.”
